Media Forum: Are the ABCes overvalued?

It's just as well, really, that Martin Clarke, the publisher of Mail
Online, speaks from a position of strength when he questions the value
of the ABCe figures. If Mail Online had posted disappointing figures in
the latest results, then his comments might sound like sour grapes. No
danger of that, though - the site actually came top of the pile in the
numbers for June, its figure of 29.3 million monthly unique visitors
placing it ahead of all other UK newspaper websites.

Clarke admits he is delighted with this outcome. But here's the caveat -
the ABCe system, he reckons, actually does the British newspaper
industry no favours at all. In the monthly headline figure, he argues, a
random visitor who lands on the site once a month and looks at one page
is given the same weight as one who visits loyally every day and
consumes dozens of articles.

He adds: "The point is that yields on the internet are lower compared
with print yields - and that's largely because there's a massive
oversupply of inventory across the web. We're effectively competing with
anyone who's ever put together a blog or a chatroom. Our argument is
that if newspapers are to make money from advertising, then we have to
differentiate ourselves from what every man and his dog are doing on the
internet. Advertisers will not pay more for our inventory if we can't
persuade them we are a high-value site.

"We've got to be more grown-up about this. For instance, we'd like to
see daily figures and UK-specific figures. And we need to see (audited)
figures on how long they spend there. We want to persuade advertisers
that display advertising is valid on the internet. Of course, direct
response is important but we don't see why the internet shouldn't be as
powerful where branded advertising is concerned as, say, outdoor."

He also argues that a focus on different metrics would encourage better
internet journalism. Too many publishers are tempted to run
inappropriate material merely in order to attract traffic from search
and aggregator sites.

Is he right? Howard Nead, a managing partner at PHD, doesn't entirely
think so. He says: "Reach (for instance, a monthly unique users figure)
is a valid way to express one element of a media owner's capability. For
advertisers and agencies, it's useful to have that available in a common
measurement form. It's a comparative figure by which we can gauge
competitive performance. Having said that, we expect any media owner -
and we're not just talking about online either - to be able to back that
up with information about engagement, loyalty and demographic
make-up."

He continues: "It's part of planning. That's why you book more than one
channel on more than one day. But the main point is that all aspects
play a part (when it comes to audience measurement). I don't think it's
valid to imply that only one factor is in play here."

Dominic Williams, the press director of Carat, says we should just be
thankful we have a transparent system these days. He adds: "We like
being able to tell clients the size of audience they will get. And while
it's true that we generally like a lot of information, in this instance
the ABCe figure is a good starting point. It does the same job as the
headline ABC figure does in the print market - and if we need more
detail (about a site's audience), there are ways we can get that."

And that's sort of how Sara Linfoot, the digital innovation manager at
Guardian News & Media, sees things too. She points out that the market
has been pondering this issue for some time. She says: "The argument
about size versus quality of audience is not a new one - and how digital
publishers measure the depth of engagement of their audience is clearly
the next big step in the evolution of online media. We know more about
where people go online and what they do when they get there than ever
before. The key is for publishers to collect this data, understand it
and find audience insights to help advertisers efficiently target their
consumers."

YES - Martin Clarke, publisher, Mail Online

"We have to prove that we are engaging our audience to a far higher
degree than other sites - that we have a relationship with people. The
first step in doing that is to stop relying on a monthly (ABCe)
figure."

NO - Howard Nead, managing partner, PHD

"We expect any media owner to be able to back up (headline reach
figures) with information about engagement, loyalty and demographic
make-up. We expect any audience to be a mixture of heavier and lighter
users."

NO - Dominic Williams, press director, Carat

"We don't see a need for pages and pages of information that might just
confuse everyone. What advertisers want is one number that will reflect
the relative performance of publishers' sites. And that's the aim, isn't
it?"

MAYBE - Sara Linfoot, digital innovation manager, GN&M

"Counting daily visits alone will not provide all the answers but it
would be part of a more relevant way to value online attention than a
headline monthly figure. A cost per engagement metric will be a large
part of the commercial future of newspaper websites."